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Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who are the members currently appointed to the Housing Corporation.

Sir George Young : The current members of the Housing Corporation board are :

Sir Christopher Benson (Chairman)

Stella Clarke JP DL

David Cochrane OBE FCA

Peter Cooke

Dermot Gleeson

David Kleeman

Lady Montgomery

Robin Thompson

Julia Unwin

Wilfred Wood

Anthony Mayer (Chief Executive)

Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who are the members currently appointed to the Property Advisory Group.

Sir George Young : The current members of the Property Advisory Group are as follows :

Mr. Hugh Jenkins (Chairman)

Chief Executive of Prudential Portfolio Managers and Director, Prudential Corporation plc.

Mr. Roger Aldridge

Executive Director, Marks and Spencer plc.

Mr. Robin Broadhurst

International Chairman, Jones Lang Wootton.


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Mr Harold Couch

Partner, Hillier Parker May and Rowden.

Professor Lyn Davies

Professor of Planning at the Department of Land and Development, University of Reading.

Mr. David Doubble

Assistant General Manager (Estates), Friends Provident Life Office.

Mr. Stuart Lipton

Chief Executive, Stanhope Properties plc.

Mrs. Lesley MacDonagh

Managing Partner, Property Sector of Lovell White Durrant. Mr. Anthony Pender

Chief Executive of English Estates.

Mr. Martin Shaw

Director of Planning and Transportation, Norfolk County Council. Mr. Anthony Solomons

Chairman, Singer and Friedlander plc.

Mr. Alan Tate

Consultant, Healey and Baker.

Mr. James Tuckey

Managing Director, MEPC plc.

Mr. William Wells

Chairman, Chesterton International Ltd.

Mr. Derek Wood QC

Principal, St Hugh's College, Oxford.

Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who are the members currently appointed to each valuation tribunal.

Mr. Baldry : There are 56 valuation tribunals in England which in total have around 2,500 members.

The tribunals are independent bodies. Their members are appointed by local authorities. Detailed information about membership is not held centrally.

Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who are the members currently appointed to the Building Regulations Advisory Committee.

Sir George Young : The current members of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee are :

Professor J. M. Anderson (Chairman)

Mr. K. W. G. Blount

Mr. N. J. Bright

Mr. J. W. Carter

Mr. B. A. Cox

Mr. H. J. Dawson

Mr. R. A. Dibben

Mr. M. D. Finn

Mr. D. C. Goodsir

Mr. R. A. Graham

Mr. S. J. Ham

Professor Sir Edmund Happold

Professor P. O'Sullivan

Miss P. R. Tindale

Professor T. J. Wiltshire

Ms R. Wyles


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Westminster City Council

Mr. Rendel : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authorities which currently implement a designated sales policy of the type referred to in Mr. John Magill's report on the accounts of Westminster city council ; and what action he plans to take.

Sir George Young : The Department does not collect information on voluntary sales undertaken by local authorities in a way which would permit the identification of policies of the type mentioned.

Right to Buy

Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what safeguards are in place to prevent abuse of the right-to-buy scheme by people who are not council tenants ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir George Young : The right to buy only gives public sector tenants the right to purchase, at a discount, the home in which they live. The tenant purchaser is required to repay all or part of the discount to the vendor authority if, within three years of purchase, the freehold of the property is conveyed, the lease assigned or a new lease granted, or an option to purchase is given to a third party. Any question about the repayment of discount in an individual case is a matter for the vendor authority.

Council House Sales

Mr. William Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority owned homes were sold in each year since 1989-90.

Sir George Young : Details of sales and transfers of local authority dwellings in England in the years 1989-90 to 1992-93 are given in the table.


                 |To owner        |To Housing      |Other sales                      

                 |occupiers       |associations<1> |and transfers<1>                 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1989-90          |141,832         |15,068          |-                                

1990-91          |81,236          |37,453          |8,029                            

1991-92          |51,961          |10,862          |2                                

<2>1992-93       |40,404          |26,488          |17                               

<1> Includes block transfers to housing associations and the private sector.         

Transfers to housing                                                                 

action trusts are excluded.                                                          

<2> Provisional.                                                                     

Homelessness, Durham

Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people are currently homeless in Durham.

Sir George Young : Figure for households accepted as homeless by individual local authorities are given in the supplementary table to the quarterly information bulletin "Households found accommodation under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act 1985 : England" ; copies of both are in the Library. The latest available statistics are for the third quarter of 1993.

Energy Efficiency

Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what improvements he has in mind for building regulations in relation to the energy efficiency of building.


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Mr. Baldry : Last January the Government issued for consultation proposals for strengthening part L of the building regulations relating to energy conservation. These included :

increasing the standards for fabric insulation ;

improving building air-tightness whilst ensuring adequate ventilation ;

improving the control and insulation of heating and hot water systems ;

the provision of energy ratings for new dwellings using the Government's standard assessment procedure ;

new requirements for non-domestic buildings aiming to ensure the provision of efficient lighting with effective means of control, and the provision of air conditioning systems only where they are reasonably necessary--and, where they are necessary, provision for their effective control.

As a result of the responses to this consultation the proposals for air conditioning have been revised and a further consultation exercise ended on 14 January. We are continuing to consider the responses to the other proposals for part L and those to the inter-related proposals for improving part F--ventilation--which were also issued for consultation last year. The intention is to lay revisions to both parts of the regulations before Parliament in the first half of this year and to bring them into force by the end of the year.

Green Belt

Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many acres of green belt have been covered with (a) housing and (b) other buildings in each of the past five years ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Baldry : Information is not available centrally in the form requested. Individual local authorities may be able to provide information about green belt decisions in their areas. Government policy is set out in planning policy guidance note 2, published by HMSO in January 1988. Recently completed research has demonstrated that green belts are effective in containing urban sprawl--"The Effectiveness of Green Belts", HMSO, July 1993.

Housing

Mr. Betts : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was (a) the level of housing grants, (b) the number of council houses built, (c) the size of the council housing stock, (d) the number of families legally accepted as homeless, (e) the number of such families housed in local authority housing and (g) the number of such families housed by nomination to housing associations or other housing for the years 1979-80 to 1993-94 for each local authority in England.

Sir George Young : The available information on housing stock, households accepted as homeless, homeless households housed in local authority dwellings and homeless households housed by nomination to housing associations or in other ways can be found in the annual "HIP1 All Items Print", copies of which are in the Library. The column reference numbers in the prints are as follows :

Local authority dwellings at 1 April

Within local authority's own area--Column A11

Outside local authority's own area--Column A16 (only available for 1987 to 1993)

Households accepted as homeless in the year ending 31 March 1980 and 1981-- Column C5

1982 to 1984--Column B5

1985--Column B6a

1986 to 1989--Column C1a

1990 to 1993--Column C11


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Homeless households housed by LAs in the year ending 31 March Secure lettings only

1980--Column D4b1

1981--Column E4b1

1982--Column E8b

1983--Column E9b

Secure lettings, non-secure lettings and mobility scheme lettings 1984-- Columns D5a D9b D10a

1985--Columns D5b D9b D10b

1986 to 1988--Columns E5b E9b E10b

1989--Columns E5a2 E5b2 E5c2 E7 E9b E10b

1990--Columns E5a21 E5b21 E5c21 E81 E9b1 E10b1 1991 to 1993--Columns E5a21 E5b21 E81 E9b1 E10b1

Homeless households taking up LA nominations to housing associations in the year ending 31 March

1980--not available

1981 and 1982--Column D1b

1983--Column C1b

1984--Column C1a

1985--Column C1b

1986 to 1990--Column D1b

1991 to 1993--Column D1b1

Homeless household taking up LA nominations to bodies other than housing associations or taking up LA or housing association tenancies in other local authorities in the year ending 31 March

1980 to 1989 not available

1990--Columns D2b D3b D4

1991 and 1992--Columns D2b1 D3b1 D41

1993--Columns D2b1 D3b1 D51

Details of the housing investment programme--HIP--allocations, which give an indication of what the Government consider are the relative resource requirements for capital expenditure on housing, for each local authority in England for the years since 1979-80 are also available in the Library.

Figures for house building by individual local authorities are published on a calendar year basis ; the publications in which they can be found, which are again available in the Library, are as follows :

1979Local Housing Statistics Issue No. 59 Table 4(b)

1980-84Housebuilding in England by local authority areas Tables 1.1-1.5

1985-90Local Housing Statistics Issue No. 103

Tables 1(a)-(f)

1991Local Housing Statistics Issue No. 105 Table 1(b)

1992Local Housing Statistics Issue No. 106 Table 1(b)

1993*Local Housing Statistics Issue No. 107 Table 1

* January to June only

Figures for financial years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.


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